Freda Magnus - July 22, 1982

Making a Life in the United States

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And you came to the United States.

I came United States, I knew I need a profession and I went to the beauty sh...beauty shop--to the beauty school and I learn beauty, beauty work. I never had been a beauty operator. I learned beauty work, I went right away to my own business. I had my business twenty two years here in United States in Detroit. Now they are taking away from me, I mean, you know, for the highway.

Yeah, where is your place?

Ten Mile and, and Coolidge. Across the street...

Right behind the bank?

Yeah.

Is that your place?

Right.

Oh yeah, I live right now--my mother lives at Ten Mile and Coolidge.

That's what I say, ??? she probably came to me.

Sure, she lived there years ago too.

Yeah, mm-hm and I make a nice living but I had been but see everything is luck. I wasn't lucky, my husband got killed here...

Oh no, when was this?

...in a car accident.

Aw, when was this?

Right after we came. We had been five years, got our citizenship and he got killed by a car.

After you were in Detroit?

Here in Detroit, yeah. To me it's, you know, how he survived--he survived so much went through, survived and then he got killed. When he start living and have a little happiness so he got killed by a car.

Did you, did you encounter any problems here in the United States when you first came?

No, I loved it. I think the Federation was very nice--helped everybody nicely. And I did--they gave me the money to, to go to school--to the beauty school but I paid them back. And everything very nicely and I brought up two daughters nice. And I, I am happy with United States.

Do your daughters live in Detroit?

One in Detroit and one lives in south Dearborn ???.

Do you talk about your experiences in the war?

With my kids? Very little. Can't sit down and tell them all those stories but they know, they know.

Do you suffer from any physical illnesses from, from your experiences in the war?

The things is, you see, um, we--that's what they say and I believe it's true, everybody from us is sick. Is no one was healthy. I had high blood pressure for many years, you know, and everybody's sick. Is no one was healthy that lived through the concentration camp. And like I say, you know, it comes in mind and, you know, sticks in here.

Do you have any psychological problems because of that?

Not really, not really. I con...I consider myself a very strong woman, see? Maybe because of that what I went so much through I became strong, so you try, you know. I don't think I have mental problems.